Businesses are using Facebook and Twitter to soar to new heights.
Victor Canada, lead consultant and trainer for NXT Media, came to the University in collaboration with Continuing Education to teach a new Social Media Specialist Certificate program.
The program consists of five courses that can be taken selectively or together. The courses are social media essentials for business; customizing Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn for business; integrating web development and graphic design for social media; maximizing business results using social media and a choice of elective, Canada said.
The online electives include technical writing for business professionals and Photoshop CS5 essentials.
Canada said the courses are offered once a semester with three-week periods in between, but he expects they’ll be offered twice a semester with growing popularity.
If the classes are taken successively, Canada said the certificate can be earned in about three months.
“Most of our instructors are folks out in the field,” said Doug Weimer, executive director of Continuing Education, of adjunct professors like Canada.
Weimer said he found the course helpful and informative, and the cost of the class helps pays for the computer labs where they are held.
He also said participants can network with people from other companies by attending the class, which may help them network in the future.
The first class consisted of about 10 people. Canada said the class size needs to remain small to get the most out of the hands-on experience.
This way, Canada said he can give individual attention to his students. Future classes will be limited to about 20 people, he said.
“He made it interesting. I was never bored,” said Mindi Talley, University alumna who is the marketing manager at inoLECT, an electrical engineering firm.
Talley said she learned major companies use Twitter and Facebook as important tools to reach broader audiences.
Jessica Hutchinson, University alumna and assistant to the director of the LSU Fire and Emergency Training Institute, said social media is a way to pull in new customers, and the class instructed her how to do so.
Students were a mixture of government employees, small business employees and other companies, Canada said. The average student age was 30 to 40 years old.
Canada said the class is useful because companies tend to flounder when “revolutionary” new technology is introduced into everyday life.
He said businesses try to ignore new technology at first but eventually must adapt as programs gain popularity with their competition.
“This country thrives in business going in a good direction,” Canada said.
He said he wants to see the Gulf Coast and especially Baton Rouge lead social media and the business world.
“Twitter is the most powerful tool for businesses and personal branding,” Canada said.
Canada said NXT Media connected with LSU as the social media manager of the Louisiana Technology Council, of which LSU is a member.
He said he and Continuing Education decided to offer the program after similar one-day versions of social media essentials became popular.